Hemispheric asymmetry in lexical decisions: the effects of grammatical class and imageability

It has been suggested that neural systems for lexical processing of nouns and verbs are anatomically distinct. The aim of the present study was to investigate if brain asymmetry for the processing of these two grammatical classes is also different. Neurologically intact adults performed a lateralized lexical decision task with grammatically unambiguous words of high, medium, and low degrees of imagery. For error scores a right visual field (RVF) advantage and an overall effect of imageability were obtained. For latency scores grammatical class and imageability modified visual field differences: in the noun class a RVF advantage was obtained only for low imagery nouns, while for the verbs the RVF advantage was present for both medium and low imagery verbs. These results suggest that the participation of right hemisphere neural systems in the processing of verbs is more limited than in the processing of nouns.     

人体系统非优性的进化论诠释

从进化论的角度论述了人体系统非优性的成因,说明了生物竿化在人体系统中保留下大量的时空沉迹,其形式与特征表现为层次套叠,多元集合,转化退化。从而成为新与旧,高级与低级,复杂与简单,一句话就是优 与非优相互缠绕,相互作用,互补关联的协同统一性,而疾病的发生则是这种辩证统一的失调或破坏。     

Recognition Memory for Faces: Reliability and Validity of the Warrington Recognition Memory Test (RMT) in a Neurological Sample

In response to critiques regarding the psychometric limitations of the Warrington Recognition Memory Test for faces (RMT-F), the current study was conducted to examine the test-retest reliability and validity of the measure in a neurological sample. Forty adult outpatients, ages 35–81, were administered the RMT-F as part of their diagnostic exam. A second evaluation was conducted after an average interval of 7 months (range = 2–20 months). Results yielded a Pearson reliability coefficient of 0.81 (p < .001), indicating a clinically satisfactory index of stability. Correlations with other measures were conducted to examine convergent and divergent validity. Results indicate that the facial component of the RMT has adequate reliability for patients with established neurological disease, shows moderate correlations with other measures of complex visuospatial function, and shows no significant correlation with measures of verbal reasoning, visual problem-solving, or verbal fluency. These findings provide additional support for the clinical efficacy of this instrument for use in a diverse neurological patient sample.     

Landmark-based spatial search in honeybees. I.

Honeybees were trained to find sugar water in the middle of an array of two landmarks of different colours. Unrewarded tests compared searching on the training array with searching on rotated arrays. On rotated tests, a system using the angles between landmarks would continue to search in the middle. A system using vectors to individual elements would search at locations outside the rotated array at which the distances and compass directions to a subset of landmarks matched. Results indicated that bees used both elements and interlandmark angles, but they relied most on one favourite landmark element. Results support the template model of landmark use in honeybees, with the minor parametric modification that weights given to different elements may be unequal. Received:6 July 1998 / Accepted after revision:7 December 1998     

Qualitative analyses of critical aspects of adaptation to the visually left-right reversed world

In this article, mechanisms of perceptual adaptation to the transposed world are analyzed based on introspective and behavioral performance data gathered during an extended period of wearing left-right reversing goggles. Three aspects central to this study were the mental map of the living space surrounding the subject, body image (both seen and felt), and the sensorimotor coordination system, which reflects the relationship between the subject and surroundings. These were investigated through map-drawing tests, self-representation tests when postures other than face forward were adopted, and after effects observed immediately after removal of the reversing goggles. It was concluded that the main course of the perceptual adaptation to the visually left-right reversed world consists of double reversals of the mental map and body image as well as the establishment of a new sensorimotor coordination system. In sharp contrast to the proprioceptive-change hypothesis, the importance of the visual nature of the body image was emphasized.     

Infants’ coding of location in continuous space

The ability to code location in continuous space is fundamental to spatial behavior. Existing evidence indicates a robust ability for such coding by 12 months, but systematic evidence on earlier origins is lacking. A series of studies investigated 5-month-olds’ ability to code the location of an object hidden in a sandbox, using a looking-time paradigm. In Experiment 1, after familiarization with a hiding-and-finding sequence at one location, infants looked longer at an object being disclosed from a location 12 inches (30 cm) away than at an object emerging from the hiding location, showing they were able to code location in continuous space. In Experiment 2, infants reacted with greater looking when objects emerged from locations 8 inches (20 cm) away from the hiding location, showing that location coding was more finely grained than could be inferred based on the first study. In Experiment 3, infants were familiarized with an object shown in hiding-and-finding sequences at two different locations. Infants looked longer at objects emerging 12 inches (30 cm) away from the most recent hiding location than to emergence from the other location, showing that infants could code location even when events had previously occurred at each location. In Experiment 4, after familiarization with two objects with different shapes, colors, and sounding characteristics, shown in hiding-and-finding sequences in two locations, infants reacted to location violations as they had in Experiment 3. However, they did not react to object violations, that is, events in which the wrong object emerged from a hiding location. Experiment 5 also found no effect of object violation, even when the infants initially saw the two objects side by side. Spatiotemporal characteristics may play a more central role in early object individuation than they do later, although further study is required.     

言语工作记忆对视觉工作记忆的影响

工作记忆是当前认知心理学中的一个研究热点,而其言语子系统与视觉子系统之间的关系又是一个颇具争论性的问题。实验1、2采用双任务范式考察了言语工作记忆对视觉工作记忆的影响。结果发现,满负荷言语负载条件下的视觉记忆的成绩显著低于无言语负载条件。这表明,言语工作记忆影响了视觉工作记忆任务的完成。     

旋转任务中3～5岁儿童空间物体位置编码的研究

本实验探讨3~5岁儿童在对空间物体位置进行编码时,能否有效采用心理旋转策略或根据物体"位置关系"来判断物体方位。实验采用3×4混合设计,在旋转条件下研究上述问题。结果表明:(1)在策略方面,儿童对心理旋转的使用要显著优于利用位置关系进行判断;(2)随着年龄增长,心理旋转的能力不断提高,5岁时进步尤其明显;(3)3~5岁儿童均不能自动利用位置关系对物体位置进行编码,但5岁儿童经提示后可采用此策略。     

The flip side of the other‐race coin: They all look different to me

Poorer recognition of other‐race faces than own‐races faces has been attributed to a problem of discrimination (i.e., telling faces apart). The conclusion that ‘they all look the same to me' is based on studies measuring the perception/memory of highly controlled stimuli, typically involving only one or two images of each identity. We hypothesized that such studies underestimate the challenge involved in recognizing other‐race faces because in the real world, an individual's appearance varies in a number of ways (e.g., lighting, expression, hairstyle), reducing the utility of relying on pictorial cues to identity. In two experiments, Caucasian and East Asian participants completed a perceptual sorting task in which they were asked to sort 40 photographs of two unfamiliar identities into piles such that each pile contained all photographs of a single identity. Participants perceived more identities when sorting other‐race faces than own‐race faces, both when sorting celebrity (Experiment 1) and non‐celebrity (Experiment 2) faces, suggesting that in the real world, ‘they all look different to me'. We discuss these results in the light of models in which each identity is represented as a region in a multidimensional face space; we argue that this region is smaller for other‐race than own‐race faces.     

Peak shift following simultaneous discriminations

Pigeons were exposed to stimuli presented on two keys. For some birds, the stimuli varied in a dimension of visual flicker-rate, and for others they varied in visual intensity. During differential training, concurrent schedules operated, with one stimulus correlated with one schedule and another stimulus correlated with a second schedule that arranged a lower, or zero, rate of reinforcement. The stimuli were alternated randomly on the two keys. Generalization tests were given in which the original two, and seven other stimuli lying in the same dimension, were presented in pairs on the two keys in various combinations. In the generalization test given after differential training, each bird showed peak shift. The data did not support explanation for peak shift that gave critical emphasis to whether stimuli were presented simultaneously or successively during differential training.