工作记忆在简单指数乘法等式判断中的作用

选择大学二年级数学系的学生作为被试,要求他们完成控制条件、语音任务、手动任务和随机间隔决策任务条件下的简单指数乘法等式判断任务,实验结果表明：（1）三种次级任务在真假等式判断的反应时上的干扰效应非常显著;（2）三种次级任务显著增加了假等式判断的错误率,但没有显著增加真等式判断的错误率。这说明,语音环路、视空间模板和反应选择成分参与简单指数乘法等式判断,而且真假等式判断具有不同的注意资源需求。     

共同方法偏差检验：问题与建议

检验共同方法偏差(CMB)已经成为心理学实证研究中的一个环节。本文从数学模型角度分析方法变异(CMV)的影响,并讨论了CMB常用的检验法——Harman单因子法、控制未测量的潜在方法因子(ULMC)法、验证性因子分析(CFA)标签变量法的检验力。Harman单因子法检验力很低,ULMC法检验力中等,CFA标签变量法检验力虽然较高但问题也不少。提出一个好的检验法应当满足的三个特点：符合CMV的数学模型、评价标准不受非CMV来源的影响、对CMV、CMB的变化敏感。最后给出CMB检验的建议。     

Application of multi-feature fusion and random forests to the automated detection of myocardial infarction

Myocardial infarction (MI) was one of the most threatening cardiovascular diseases due to its suddenness and high mortality. Electrocardiography (ECG) reflected the electrophysiological activity of the heart which was widely used for the diagnosis of MI. The aim of the paper was to provide a novel method to detect MI leveraging ECG. Firstly, data enhancement technology was employed to extend the database and prevent overfitting. Then, principal component analysis (PCA) features, statistical features, and entropy features were computed as the representation of first layer features for each lead. Furthermore, the second layer features for each lead were extracted by using random forests (RF), and the feature extraction results were quantified as a classification data set. Finally, in order to evaluate the proposed method, two schemes for the intra-patient and inter-patient were employed. The accuracy, sensitivity, specificity and F1 values in the intra-patient scheme were 99.71%, 99.7%, 99.73%, and 99.71%, respectively, and 85.82%, 73.91%, 97.73%, and 83.9% in the inter-patient scheme. Meanwhile, compared with different methods including support vector machine (SVM), back propagation neural network (BPNN), and k-nearest neighbor (KNN), RF displayed the best performance.     

ANOVA and the variance homogeneity assumption: Exploring a better gatekeeper

Valid use of the traditional independent samples ANOVA procedure requires that the population variances are equal. Previous research has investigated whether variance homogeneity tests, such as Levene's test, are satisfactory as gatekeepers for identifying when to use or not to use the ANOVA procedure. This research focuses on a novel homogeneity of variance test that incorporates an equivalence testing approach. Instead of testing the null hypothesis that the variances are equal against an alternative hypothesis that the variances are not equal, the equivalence-based test evaluates the null hypothesis that the difference in the variances falls outside or on the border of a predetermined interval against an alternative hypothesis that the difference in the variances falls within the predetermined interval. Thus, with the equivalence-based procedure, the alternative hypothesis is aligned with the research hypothesis (variance equality). A simulation study demonstrated that the equivalence-based test of population variance homogeneity is a better gatekeeper for the ANOVA than traditional homogeneity of variance tests.     

Meta-analytic findings reveal lower means but higher variances in visuospatial ability in dyslexia

Conflicting empirical and theoretical accounts suggest that dyslexia is associated with either average, enhanced, or impoverished high-level visuospatial processing relative to controls. Such heterogeneous results could be due to the presence of wider variability in dyslexic samples, which is unlikely to be identified at the single study level, due to lack of power. To address this, this study reports a meta-analysis of means and variances in high-level visuospatial ability in 909 non-dyslexic and 956 dyslexic individuals. The findings suggest that dyslexia is associated not only with a lower mean performance on visuospatial tasks but also with greater variability in performance. Through novel meta-analytic techniques, we demonstrate a negative effect size for mean differences (−.457), but a positive effect size for SD differences (+.118; SD ratio = 1.107). In doing so, this is the first study to demonstrate impoverished visuospatial processing of the majority of individuals with dyslexia in addition to greater variance in performance in this group. The findings advocate for further consideration of both the presence of, and reasons for, increased variance in perception, attention, and memory across neurodevelopmental disorders.     

Methods for Connectedness

SUMMARY

There are prerequisites that must be achieved developmen-tally before individuals are capable of co-creating healthy intimacy in adult relationships. Thus, therapists often have to work to help client systems overcome failures of maturation. In these kinds of therapeutic encounters the therapist acts as a developmental partner. By designing compensatory experiences, the therapist can help partners fill gaps in early development and education that operate to sabotage loving relationships. This paper offers examples of how levels of moral development and social-perspective taking can be utilized within a transpersonal approach to help couples achieve more satisfying intimate connections.     

Faces as perceptual wholes: The interplay between component and configural properties in face processing

The relative dominance of component and configural properties in face processing is a controversial issue. We examined this issue by testing whether the discriminability of components predicts the discrimination of faces with similar versus dissimilar configurations. Discrimination of faces with similar configurations was determined by components discriminability, indicating independent processing of facial components. The presence of configural variation had no effect on discriminating faces with highly discriminable components, suggesting that discrimination was based on the components. The presence of configural variation, however, facilitated the discrimination of faces with more difficult-to-discriminate components, above and beyond what would be predicted by the configural or componential discriminability, indicating interactive processing. No effect of configural variation was observed in discriminating inverted faces. These results suggest that both component and configural properties contribute to the processing of upright faces and no property necessarily dominates the other. Upright face discrimination can rely on components, configural properties, or interactive processing of component and configural properties, depending on the information available and the discriminability of the properties. Inverted faces are dominated by componential processing. The finding that interactive processing of component and configural properties surfaced when the properties were of similar, not very high discriminability, suggests that such interactive processing may be the dominant form of face processing in everyday life.     

The Effect of Practice on Component Submovements is Dependent on the Availability of Visual Feedback

Participants (N = 16) were given extensive practice (1,500 trials) on a perceptual-motor aiming task. The full-vision (FV) group practiced with vision of their response cursor, whereas the no vision (NV) group practiced in a condition without vision. Movements were made as quickly and accurately as possible, and knowledge of results (KR) was provided. The authors tested the importance of vision early and late in practice by transferring participants to the NV condition without KR. The effects of practice differed between the two conditions. The FV group increased the speed of initial impulse to get to the target quickly, then relied on vision so make discrete error corrections. Transfer tests revealed that reliance on vision remained after extensive practice. For the NV group, practice effects were associated with a reduction in the extent to which discrete error corrections were produced.     

Online Versus Offline Processing of Visual Feedback in the Production of Component Submovements

The present authors tested the assumptions in R. S. Woodworth's (1899) 2-component model regarding the specific roles of vision in the production of both the initial impulse and the error-correction phases of movement. Participants (N = 40) practiced a rapid aiming task (1,500 trials), with either no visual feedback, vision of only the 1st 50% of the movement, vision of only the 1st 75% of the movement, or vision of the entire movement. Consistent with previous research, the availability of vision over the 1st half of the movement had no effect on aiming accuracy during acquisition. In contrast, when visual feedback was available over the 1st 75% of the movement and the entire movement, initial impulse endpoints were less variable and the efficiency of the error-correction phase was improved. Analysis of spatial variability at various stages in the movement revealed that participants processed visual feedback offline to improve programming of the initial impulse and processed it online in regulating the deceleration of the initial impulse.