家庭功能对青少年疏离感的影响: 有调节的中介效应

采用问卷法调查了608名初一至高二城市青少年, 通过结构方程模型探讨了青少年疏离感与家庭社会经济地位、家庭功能和同伴接纳的关系。结果发现: (1) 青少年疏离感年龄段差异显著, 高中生的疏离感显著高于初中生; (2) 青少年疏离感的三个维度之间存在显著差异。其中环境疏离感最高, 其次是社会疏离感, 人际疏离感最低; (3) 家庭功能在家庭社会经济地位与青少年疏离感之间起完全中介作用, 这一中介作用的实现受到同伴接纳的调节, 即家庭功能对青少年疏离感的影响是有调节的中介效应。     

聋人句子阅读中的视觉功能补偿现象：副中央凹−中央凹效应的证据

聋人阅读过程中的视觉功能补偿现象是由于听觉信息的缺失,聋人的视觉功能会发生补偿性改变,表现为对副中央凹视野内文本信息的加工效率更高。本研究采用边界范式,测量聋人的副中央凹-中央凹重复效应,以探究聋人的副中央凹视觉功能补偿现象能否促进其中央凹的词汇识别过程。结果发现,聋人的副中央凹-中央凹重复效应出现在早期阅读指标凝视时间,而阅读能力匹配组只出现在晚期阅读指标总注视时间。因此,相比阅读能力匹配的健听读者,聋人的副中央凹-中央凹重复效应出现得更早,表现出副中央凹视觉功能补偿现象。     

自我信息对知觉选择中整体优先性的调控作用

已有研究表明个人重要信息调控高级认知加工过程, 如面孔识别、记忆、思维等。本研究的三项实验系统地测量了个人重要信息对知觉选择的影响。采用最近发展的自我连接学习范式, 让中性几何图形与不同人(自我、朋友、陌生人)建立联系; 图形-标签连接完成后, 以复合图形(局部小图形组成整体大图形)作为实验刺激, 被试完成整体/局部图形判断任务, 通过评估个体对具有不同社会意义图形(目标vs.分心物水平)的感知差异, 测量个人重要信息对知觉选择的调控作用。结果发现, 与他人相关图形相比, 自我相关图形作为分心物调控整体优先效应, 这种效应一致地发生在整体和局部水平上, 并且不受注意任务的影响。这些结果提示社会信息对认知的调控作用发生在视觉选择水平上。     

发展性阅读障碍的噪音抑制缺陷

发展性阅读障碍的缺陷本质一直是研究者们关注和争论的焦点。近些年, 有研究者提出了一种新的理论假设——噪音抑制缺陷假设, 并得到了许多研究证据的支持。这种缺陷在视觉和听觉通道中均存在, 说明阅读障碍具有多感觉/一般性噪音抑制缺陷。但也有研究者指出知觉噪音抑制本质上反映了注意的功能, 因而这种缺陷可能是由注意缺陷导致的。目前还缺乏直接证据支持汉语阅读障碍存在噪音抑制缺陷。最后本文对该领域未来的发展方向做出展望。     

家庭功能与儿童孤独感的关系：中介的作用

以246名小学三、四、五年级儿童为被试,考察了儿童孤独感、同伴接受性、问题行为与家庭功能的关系。结果发现,儿童的外部问题行为在家庭功能与同伴接受性之间起着中介作用,同伴接受性在外部问题行为与孤独感之间起着中介作用;内部问题行为是家庭功能影响儿童孤独感的中介,而外部问题行为与同伴接受性依次组成家庭功能与孤独感联系的另一间接作用路;不仅如此,家庭功能对儿童孤独感还有较强的直接作用。最后讨论了这些中介作用存在的原因以及适用范围上的限制。     

持续性视觉注意对视觉工作记忆项目优先加工的影响

采用行为实验、事件相关电位和事件相关光信号联合采集技术, 通过操纵视觉工作记忆(VWM)项目的检测概率变化VWM项目加工的优先性, 探讨持续性视觉注意对VWM项目优先加工的影响是否受到工作记忆资源的调节, 以及VWM项目优先加工的神经基础。行为结果显示, 在VWM保持阶段插入消耗视觉注意的任务, 当优先加工1个项目时, 非优先项目受到干扰, 而优先项目不受影响; 当优先加工2个项目时, 优先与非优先项目均受到干扰。事件相关电位和事件相关光信号结果显示, 在VWM保持阶段, 与无项目优先加工相比, 存在项目优先加工时诱发更大的晚期正成分和负慢波, 更高激活额叶和枕叶。这表明, 持续性视觉注意对VWM项目优先加工的作用受到工作记忆资源的调节, VWM项目优先加工的潜在机制是在保持阶段激活额叶和枕叶, 并投入更多的工作记忆资源, 增强优先项目的表征稳定性。     

Matching the graphical display of data to avoidance versus approach motivation increases outcome expectancies

This study is the first demonstration of the effect of motivational focus (approach vs. avoidance) on the interpretation of graphical view of personal data, specifically, weight loss progress. In two experiments, participants were randomly assigned to see the bogus weight loss data charted against either a goal or a baseline reference line. In the first experiment, we accessed participants' chronic motivational focus. In the second study, we primed motivation by exposing the participants to either a gain- or loss-focused health message. The results demonstrate that participants with either chronic or manipulated approach motivation predicted higher future weight loss in the goal reference line condition than in the baseline reference line condition. The opposite pattern was observed for participants with either chronic or manipulated avoidance motivation. The potential of matching graphical data display to personality characteristics to promote effective health management is discussed.     

Information processing in patients with first episode major depression

Hammar, Å., Kildal, A. B. & Schmid, M. (2012). Information processing in patients with first episode major depression. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology 53, 445–449. Few studies have investigated cognitive functioning in a group of patients experiencing a first episode of depression. The aim of this study was to investigate how patients diagnosed with a first episode of depression perform in effortful and non‐effortful information processing compared to healthy controls. An experimental paradigm based on a visual search test was applied. Thirty‐one patients and thirty‐one healthy controls were included in the study. All patients experienced a severe level of symptom load at the time of testing. Results showed no significant differences between groups under any of the conditions. Findings in the present study indicate that patients with a first episode of depression perform equally to healthy controls in tasks requiring visual attention in both effortful and non‐effortful information processing.     

Association Learning with Own‐ and Other‐race Faces in three‐ and six‐month old infants – A longitudinal study

This longitudinal study assessed 133 Caucasian German infants at 3 and 6 months of age to investigate the influence of own‐race and other‐race faces as visual stimuli on association learning in the visual expectation paradigm (VExP). The study is related to the findings on the other‐race‐effect (ORE) which is said to emerge at 6 months of age. Caucasian faces were used as stimuli of a familiar ethnic category, whereas African faces were used as stimuli of an unfamiliar ethnic category. There was no significant difference between the two stimulus classes in infants' reaction time (RT) to stimulus shifts at 3 months. At 6 months of age, infants' RT decreased significantly in the Caucasian faces condition but not in the African faces condition. These results indicate that the processing of other‐race versus own‐race faces by the age of 6 months, which is also the relevant age for the onset of the ORE, has an important influence on the performance on the VExP. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Target self-relevance speeds visual search responses but does not improve search efficiency

ABSTRACT

In a variety of contexts, arbitrarily associating one’s self with a stimulus improves performance relative to stimuli that are not self-associated, implying enhanced processing of self-associated stimuli (“self-relevance” effects). Self-relevance has been proposed to influence diverse aspects of cognition, including the perceptual prioritization of self-relevant stimuli (“self-prioritization” effects). We sought to elucidate the mechanisms of self-prioritization by using a visual search paradigm. In three experiments, subjects learned two stimulus-label combinations (SELF and OTHER), and then searched for one of those stimuli (cued by the label) on each trial, with a variable number of distractors present on each trial. We hypothesized that, if self-relevance enhances the perceptual salience of the stimuli pre-attentively, then the self-relevance of a target should result in improved search efficiency. In three experiments using conjunction-defined (Experiments 1–2) and feature-defined (Experiment 3) targets, we found that self-relevant targets were associated with overall faster responses than non-self-relevant targets (an intercept effect). However, the slopes of the search size by reaction time (RT) function were never significantly different between the self-relevant and non-self-relevant conditions, counter to the hypothesis that self-prioritization is pre-attentive. These results constitute novel evidence that self-relevance affects visual search performance, but they also cast doubt on the possibility that self-relevance enhances the perceptual salience of a target in a manner similar to physical manipulations. We propose that the self-relevance of a stimulus alters processing only after the self-relevant item has been attended.