类皮亚杰数量守恒任务中的负启动效应

采用负启动研究范式,考察九岁儿童在类皮亚杰数量守恒任务中的负启动效应。实验一重复了Houdé等人的实验过程,发现我国儿童在解决类皮亚杰数量守恒任务中也存在负启动效应,负启动量为310.9ms;实验二改进了Houdé等人研究的实验材料,排除实验材料形状的干扰,发现依然存在负启动效应,负启动量为200.04ms。实验结果表明,成功完成类皮亚杰数量守恒任务需要认知抑制过程的参与。     

Locus of Control and Cooperative Behavior in 10-Year-Old Children

Abstract

A game-like task was used to evaluate the cooperative behavior of 10-year-old same-sex dyads that were paired homogeneously or heterogeneously on a premeasure of locus of control. Pairs of girls were relatively more cooperative than were boys, and dyads of internal locus of control boys who displayed relatively little cooperation on initial trials became more cooperative as the game progressed. In addition, male dyads heterogeneous in terms of locus of control (an internal and an external), who also displayed little cooperation initially, became even less cooperative over trials.     

Examining the Spatiotemporal Disruption to Gaze When Using a Myoelectric Prosthetic Hand

The aim of this study was to provide a detailed account of the spatial and temporal disruptions to eye-hand coordination when using a prosthetic hand during a sequential fine motor skill. Twenty-one able-bodied participants performed 15 trials of the picking up coins task derived from the Southampton Hand Assessment Procedure with their anatomic hand and with a prosthesis simulator while wearing eye-tracking equipment. Gaze behavior results revealed that when using the prosthesis, performance detriments were accompanied by significantly greater hand-focused gaze and a significantly longer time to disengage gaze from manipulations to plan upcoming movements. The study findings highlight key metrics that distinguish disruptions to eye-hand coordination that may have implications for the training of prosthesis use.     

Religious versus reflective priming and susceptibility to the conjunction fallacy

The effect of religious priming has been studied in relation to a number of variables, most extensively with prosocial behavior. The effects of priming on cognitive domains, however, are relatively understudied. The present study examined the effects of religious priming, compared with reflective and neutral priming, on the conjunction fallacy. Participants were randomly assigned to 1 of the 3 priming conditions. Priming was presented through the scrambled sentence task in which participants were required to rearrange words of a religious (e.g., pray), reflective (e.g., reason), or neutral (e.g., paper) content. The conjunction fallacy was measured by a task containing 1 problem. Results indicated that those undergoing the religious prime were significantly more likely to commit the conjunction fallacy compared with those in the reflective priming group. Situations in which reasoning is integral may benefit from knowing the immediate effects of religious versus reflective stimuli in the environment.     

Rhythmic priming across effector systems: A randomized controlled trial with Parkinson’s disease patients

This study investigated the immediate effects of auditory-motor entrainment across effector systems by examining whether Rhythmic Auditory Stimulation training of arm or finger movements would modulate gait speed. Forty-one participants with idiopathic Parkinson’s Disease were randomly assigned to 3 groups. Participants in the finger-tapping group tapped in synchrony with a metronome set to 20% faster pace than the pre-training walking cadence, whereas participants in the other group were asked to swing both arms in an alternating motion in synchrony with the metronome. Participants in the control condition did not receive training. To assess gait parameters pre- and post-training, participants walked on a 14-meter flat walkway at his/her preferred walking cadence with no auditory cueing. Results indicated that there was a significant increase in gait velocity after the finger tapping training (p < .005), whereas no differences were observed in the arm swing (p = .802) and in the control conditions (p = .525). Similarly, there were significant changes in gait cadence post-training in the finger tapping group (p < .005), but not after arm swing training (p = .879) or control (p = .759). There were no significant changes in stride length post-training in none of the groups. These findings suggest that auditory-motor entrainment in one effector system may prime a second effector system. Interestingly, however, the priming effect on gait was only observed in the finger tapping condition and not with synchronized arm swing movements. These findings have significant implications for motor rehabilitation and open new avenues for further investigation of the mechanisms underlying cross-effector coupling.     

Mothers’ Attributions About Child Misbehavior: Can Situational Suggestions Change General Perceptions?

Mothers’ attributions about children’s misbehavior were experimentally manipulated to examine causal relationships among attributions, mood, and behavior and assess whether suggestion can change mothers’ general perceptions. Forty mothers of children aged 33 to 71 months were primed with dysfunctional child-referent (child responsible) or environment-referent (situation caused) attributions before a parent-child interaction. Mothers in the dysfunctional child-referent condition placed greater responsibility on children, reported less positive mood and endorsed more overly reactive discipline, and their children displayed more negative mood and misbehavior. The experimental manipulation also affected mothers’ general child attributions. Understanding how attributions form and change has implications for parenting interventions.